Most Drivers Going 65 Miles Per Hour Can't Stop in Length of Football Field

Tom Tiede
The Victoria Advocate
15 February 1969

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.—Say you are driving your 1969 automobile at 65 miles per hour on a level highway. And suddenly, 200 feet ahead, a group of school children begins to cross your road.

Your eyes bulge, your hands strangle the steering wheel, your leg lifts from acceleration and your foot crashes down on the brake pedal.

Can you stop in time?

Probably not. Unless you have room to swerve out of the way (thus creating other dangers), it will probably take you well over that 200 feet to stop your vehicle, possibly as much as twice the distance.

In recent tests at the Daytona International Speedway, the Union Oil Company tested the stops to induce brake heating similar to that of normal road traffic (250-350 degrees). Then cars were put through a series of controlled breaking capabilities of 60 new automobiles. Then each of the vehicles were "panic stopped" from exactly 65 m.p.h.

The results: The best stopping distance was 170.9 feet; the worst was 396 feet; the average for the whole motor pool was 211.

And the testing was done under clinical conditions seldom found on the average highway. The cars were showroom new; the road clean and dry; the drivers, all professional automobile men, knew exactly when their panic stops would begin.

In regular traffic the roads vary with the season and the maintenance crew. And a driver seldom knows when an emergency stop will be necessary.

Dick Dolan, director of the trials, says, "The average driver really faces many more problems than our testers. For one thing ,it takes the average man some time to react after spotting trouble. Maybe one-half or three-quarters of a second. And at 65 miles per hour, this means he will travel 75 feet or more before he even begins to brake."

Dolan's conclusion is therefore glum. He feels the quickest most drivers can stop, in a straight line at 65 m.p.h., is the length of a football field.

And some drivers, he sighs, can hardly see that far.

Officials of the braking tests are quick to admit the stopping performances of the modern automobile are not what they should be.

They point out that, according to the laws of physics, a car traveling at 65 m.p.h. could stop dead (if mechanisms allowed) in a brief 140 feet.

As it is, however, auto brake stoppage has not been getting closer to this ultimate over the years. Brakes have improved steadily, but cars have gotten bigger and faster. The result: Average stopping distance at this year's tests is almost exactly what it was five years ago.

And when speeds higher than 65 are considered, experts added, brake capabilities are even more dismal. At 80-90, says Dolan, a panic stop in a modern car will stretch out some 500 feet or more.

The blame for such a situation, says Dolan, "if it helps to blame," must be equally shared by the manufacturer and public customer.

Some manufacturers, eyeballing profits, make inferior brakes. During last year's tests, one automobile's brake system completely exploded at a 65 m.p.h. stop. The manufacturer said it was a fluke and did nothing. This year the car returned, and the brakes exploded again.

But the automobile consumer is equally economy minded. Dolan says that better braking systems (metallic shoes, for instance) are now available on option, but since they cost more they are seldom purchased.

The same goes for tires, says Dolan. Some years ago butyl tires were introduced on public cars. Being soft they were of great aid in auto braking. But, being soft, they also wore out faster. The customers ignored them and they quickly faded out of popular sight.

Today, the great majority of automobiles are equipped simply with stock brakes and stock tires. That means they're not as good as the best.

And to many of the experts who conduct brake tests, and watch the screeching, smoking, sliding results of some stock components, it is no wonder the public street is the most gruesome graveyard in the nation.